please empty your brain below
Were they that bad?
Now the Routemasters are gone and you can't get on and off buses where you choose, this means you often end up walking a considerable distance.
I've found that bus drivers are not at all helpful when you ask them to let you know when you're at the nearest stop to wherever you want to go (cf years ago when the conductors took pride in so doing).
I think TfL's Mr Stupid Title is addressing the wrong question
eed here.
One example: recently I wanted to get off westbound at the Law Courts. Driver with a full bus on his own initiative decide to ignore the next two compulsory stops so I ended up walking back from Waterloo and in fact I was no better off than if I had walked for my entire journey.
Irrelevant historical fact, maybe: During my training many, many years ago as a conductor I was told that certain compulsory stops were so designated to ensure that the driver checked his brakes before a steep descent. The westbound stop outside Hornimans museum was such an example. These "police stops" could not be omitted under any circumstances.
Effectively the proposals are bringing the buses in line with the rules already operating for trams.
Think about it, what they are doing is managing the flow of people around London in a much more efficient manner. I expect we'll hear the announcement of some new jobs soon, in time for this new practise. Similar to those men who work on the Japanese underground, wearing white gloves and literally cramming people onto the train.
"But I don't WANT to get on this bus, it's not the right one!!"
"Sorry mate" (push) "The bus stopped and you must get on it" (shove)
"BUT I'm waiting on the 43, this is 287!!!"
(shove) "Not my problem mate. Bus stops. You get on. That's what it said in my job training" (shoulder charge)
London. You gotta love it.
What I'd like to request is that when you stand up, walk to the kerb, make eye contact with the driver, wave and are acknowledged with a nod, that the bastard would actually stop the bus. Twice on successive days he just drove straight past. And yes, it was the right stop for that bus.
In Brisbane all the bus stops are request, if the sun's in your eyes and you can't see the number of the bus and you dont put your hand out until you can see it(in case it's not your bus) they just go whizzing past; if you do hail the wrong bus they're really rude!
and it still does! I didn't know the difference between a request or compulsory stop, or the different colours on bus stops. and I've lived in London for 8 years.
maybe I have an IQ of under 70?
My own preference would be for a contraction of the number of compulsory stops, making most of them request stops. There are many small stops on out of the way roads, clearly in use only by locals, that are still compulsory stops and I've never been able to work out the thinking behind that.
http://timebus.co.uk/rlh
ews/178-lastchance
You want to get off the bus: ring the bell in good time (take note, Pedantic of Purley) and prepare to alight.
I was taught this as a small child and it's always served me perfectly.
The only time you can guarantee a bus driver will stop for you to get on, and open the back doors automatically for you to get off, is in Central London where there are so many people milling around bus stops anyway that it's a fairly safe bet there's going to be some movement of people.
The compulsory/request stop thing is completely redundant elsewhere, and those 'new' instructions are what everybody expects will happen anyway. What annoys me is the fact a large amount of my travel expenditure has been wasted on yet another frivolous consultation.
There are way too many people getting paid way too much to spend 18-36 months of research and "public consultation" and endless meetings and powerpoint presentations to come up with this sort of bullshit.
I should know, I work for them
I liked the way they tried to wriggle out of the fact published in the Evening Standard that since the addition of "bendy buses", accidents with buses on these routes have increased 2-fold, by explaining "these buses are used on high usage routes, therefore the statistics cannot be compared"
But beforehand these routes were patrolled by normal double deckers or Routemasters, and accidents were no higher or lower than any other routes, even the ones that didn't travel through Central London.
People rarely ring the bell when approaching Brixton Tube. One morning, with a really packed bus, the driver refused to stop at Brixton Tube because no one had rung the bell. It was pointed out to him that no one was obliged to do, and he had better stop now or else. He said that he would drive to the next stop and then let us out. It being Brixton riots were threatened, and, suddenly, Marks and Spencer became 'the next stop'.
(Brixton is the beginning of the Victoria line; bus routes from four directions converge. Probably barely less than a fifth of passengers on non-terminating buses remain on beyond Brixton)
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